Ali’s pen and notepad were tucked firmly under one arm as she stood on tiptoe and rang the doorbell hard. Her hands were ink-smudged, strands of her black bob sticking to her sweaty forehead, and her eyes were wild with excitement. Now this was a story.

“Why’d the news editor even give you this assignment?” said Nasir. He stood a few feet behind her in the hallway, his huge hands clutching his camera and its tripod. “I mean, it’s not your usual style, is it? It’s not dangerous and it’s not secretive, it’s just archaeology -”

“I got an interview with Rashida Salib because she’s my half-sister.” Ali mashed the doorbell again. That was twice. Two. An even number. Good.

Through my successive chain of authorities reaching Sheikh Mufid (r.a.), who relates in his Irshad that, one day the Holy Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w.s.) was seated and Imam Ali (a.s.), Hazrat Fatemah (s.a.), Imam Hasan (a.s.), and Imam Husain (a.s.) were sitting around him.

The Prophet addressed them and said:

“What will be your state when all of you will be killed and your graves will lie scattered”?

Imam Husain (a.s.) said:

“Will we die a natural death or will we be martyred”?

The Prophet replied:

“O my dear son! You will be killed with oppression and cruelty, and your brother (Hasan) too will be killed with tyranny and cruelty, and your offspring will be scat­tered over the land."

Husain asked:

”Who will kill us, O Prophet of Allah“?

He replied:

”The worst among men“,

then Imam Husain inquired:

”Then will anyone come to visit us (our graves) after our death“?

The Prophet an­swered:

”Yes my dear son! A group of people from among my community will come to visit your graves seeking my pleasure. Then on the day of Qiyamah, near the station of accounting, I will go to them and catching hold of their hands will save them from it’s terrors and sorrows.“

Bana Alabed and her family tweeted what they fear might be their final goodbyes from war-torn Syria, as pro-government forces descended on East Aleppo, killing civilians and rebels in the besieged city.The family’s Twitter account featured messages from both 7-year-old Bana and her mother Fatemah in recent days. (Read More)

Fatemah Aldan holds her two-year-old brother Saif as they wait for prosthetic legs to be made at a prosthetics clinic in Reyhanli, Turkey. Saif lost both his legs during a barrel bomb attack in Aleppo, Syria. (Photo Credit: Carl Court)

He replied,“Because 'Zahra’ means shining, and Fatimah was such that when she stood in the 'Mehrab’ of prayer her light was a radiance for the inhabitants of the skies (heavens), just as the light of the stars is for the inhabitants of earth (is radiant). Therefore she was given the name 'Zahra’.”

One day Prophet Muhammad (sawa) paid a visit to the house of Ali (sa) and Fatemah (sa).

He saw that Ali (as) was sieving the pulses and Fatemah (as) was busy cooking.

On observing this the Prophet (sawa) remarked,
“O Ali, I do not speak except what is revealed to me. Anyone who helps his wife in her domestic affairs obtains a reward of one year of worship equal to the amount of hair on his body. This year of worship will be as if he has fasted during its days and prayed during its nights. Allah will reward him equal to the reward of all the patient ones, Hazrat Dawood (as) and Hazrat Isa (as).”
[Jamius Sa’daat, vol. 2, p. 142]